Instead of facing the nation’s No. 3 team on the road as 14-point underdogs, they were facing a 30-foot eagle putt — a slippery, downhill double-breaker.

And they sunk it.

But the Cowboys are just now making the turn and this week, they’re looking at a straight-in eight-footer for par when better-than-usual Baylor visits Boone Pickens Stadium.

But there are several distractions.

OSU football is stretching into the national realm, evident by the appearance of ESPN.com and CBS Sportsline writers joining local media on coach Mike Gundy’s regular Sunday conference call, which rarely has a guest from beyond Oklahoma’s borders.

OSU is 6-0, ranked No. 8. On a national scale, that puts them in the discussion for the BCS championship game.

"I don’t think that’s even worth talking about right now,” Gundy said Sunday.

He’s right. A loss to the Bears on Saturday will get the Cowboys out of that discussion as quickly as they’ve put themselves in it.

Locally, fans and fellow students will be praising the players for what they did in Columbia.

Saturday night’s 28-23 win over No. 3 Missouri is among the most significant wins in the last 50 years at Oklahoma State. Since joining the Big Eight Conference in 1958, the Cowboys are 10-77-1 against top 10 teams. Five of those wins have been on the road, and few had the implications the Missouri win carried.